Money under the pillow
Dear ER:
I listened intently to the discussion at the March 24 Hermosa Beach city council meeting regarding raising the Transient Occupancy Tax, or hotel tax to increase city revenue. I heard something that night I’ve not heard before. The word hotel has gone from singular to plural . Simply put, what I heard is that hotels will become Hermosa’s geese that lay the golden eggs.
Follow the logic here. If hotels are going to be the golden-egg-laying solution to our city’s revenue woes, don’t we want those golden eggs to be as large as possible? In other words, maximize the hotel taxes generated. Part of the discussion advocated raising the TOT from 10 percent to 12 percent, an increase of 20 percent. Current annual TOT is about $2.2 million. A 20 percent would equal $440,000. Sounds like a lot of money, right? Not really. It would increase General Fund revenue by just over one percent.
How do we increase the size of these golden eggs? Build more hotel rooms to accommodate more guests. How do we get more hotel rooms? Allowing a three-story hotel to become a five-story hotel increases the hotel’s TOT 67 percent (maybe not exactly, but you get the idea).
Conclusion: the best way to increase city revenue is to approve as many tall hotels as a possible. Problem solved? Uhh, maybe not.
Tall hotels need tall parking structures. If the council and certain residents are going to honestly address this issue they must be candid and transparent and follow the thread all the way to the end. Put the whole story on the table for all of us to see.
Jim Sullivan
Hermosa Beach
Collaborative council
Dear ER:
As a Redondo resident, I want councilmembers who understand the facts and can collaborate with others to find solutions to the problems plaguing our community, particularly our dilapidated waterfront area. Redondo Beach is in a sticky situation. Our tax revenue doesn’t cover all of our needs, infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes, and mom-and-pop shops are struggling to make ends meet.
District 3 candidate Candace Nafissi claims she wants a more comprehensive plan to improve the waterfront area. So what are the details of her comprehensive plan? How does her plan increase our tax revenue? Nafissi may say say from experience, as the daughter of a small business owner, that only chain restaurants will survive at the waterfront. Has she spoken with the folks at CenterCal about this?
Christian Horvath understands how The Waterfront Project will benefit our community and is committed to working with CenterCal so that the project reflects what makes our community such a unique and special place. If Nafissi has an alternative plan, we deserve to know it if she wants residents’ votes.
Steve Goldstein
Redondo Beach
Respectfully decline
Dear ER:
I have garnered over 100 resident donations for my Redondo Beach District 3 city council campaign. My opponent accepted over $10,000 in special interest donations. He returned one $4,000 check from a developer two months after receiving it, only due to public pressure. Yes, campaigns are expensive, but ethics are free. I will not sell this community short, we are not for sale. I am the only candidate who has over 80 percent of my donations from right here in this city. I have made a commitment to District 3 residents that I will represent them. The only way to do so ethically is by politely declining special interest donations.
Candace Nafissi.
Redondo Beach.
IRV for council
Dear ER:
Each Redondo Beach election cycle, controversies arise showing the need for campaign reform. We need instant runoff voting (IRV) in our elections. IRV has voters rank the candidates, eliminating the need for runoff elections.
Too much focus is on refining the system with the money caps and donations and creating more bureaucracy. The simple solution is implementing IRV. Having worked on the first IRV election in San Francisco, I saw IRV increase voter turnout and reduced the need for expensive run-off elections and negative campaigns. We need it everywhere. Hermosa Beach’s city-wide voting system is even worse. Hermosa candidates are typically elected from a minority of voters.
Runoff elections bring out the negatives in all of us.
Dean Francois
Redondo Beach
